Friday, 12 February 2016

1976: THE TOMORROW PEOPLE IN ONE LAW PAPERBACK

From 1976: One for the weekend... the TV TIMES paperback (a brand extension before anyone had coined the phrase) adapting Thames TV's THE TOMORROW PEOPLE.

I can't say that I've read the paperback but, thanks to DVD, I've discovered the original series over the last decade or so and really enjoyed it (especially the lawyers-be-dammed commentaries by the cast which are thin on technical details - don't expect a Ken Johnson style outing full of insights - but thick with barbed comments) for its lo-fi Teddington austerity production values.

Prior to the DVD's, I was more familiar with the early 1990s version which came and went during the dying days of the Thames ITV franchise. The recent American version initially seemed like a triumphant return but became increasingly dumb as it lurched towards cancellation at the end of its only season. It was the "V" reboot all over again. Sadly. But, to their credit, they did get their monies worth out of their subway train interior set by reusing it almost every episode.

7 comments:

You often cover these kind of "passing-of-an-era" events--did you know Teddington Studios is being demolished and replaced with flats? Appreciate it's outside of London, but wondered if you might be able to do a photo shoot of the changes.

I used to live just down the road in Strawberry Hill, but moved at start of 2014 or I'd help you out!

As ever, your blog is compelling reading. Did you see my comment on Batman Monthly, by the way?

I finally stumbled upon an issue of GEEKY MONKEY in a newsagent and the articles on dr who and the force awakens made it a must buy. Sadly , it didn't scan at the counter and therefore I couldn't buy the mag. Go figure that one out !

In other news , there is yet ANOTHER marvel graphic novel collection out now and a ' build R2-D2 ' series is on the way after a test market as seen here :

Grrr. How frustrating! GEEKY MONKEY is inconsistantly racked by WHS anyway: Some stores display it with the genre magazines, others with the computer magazines and some with the men's lifestyle magazines. Which can make finding copies a bit of a challenge. I hope it's not denting sales as it's a really good magazine which I look forward to each month. The new issue of STARBURST is out today... and it's so weighty that it confuses the scales on the self-service tills.

The new MARVEL hardback partwork is the 'black edition' relaunched from the original first issue. Confusingly, new issues are still shipping as well. Sure to create collector and retailer confusion.

ANOTHER SW partwork? Along with the helmets (hohum), reference guide and Falcon build-a-ship. They are making the most of it. I still think they should do hardback collections of the strips.

Apparently, in Japan they are publishing a Build-a-Thunderbird 2 partwork. Remains to be seen if it ever makes it to the home market.

I may do a ' trawl ' of other stores in search of it but so far, that's the only place that had the mag. And I almost missed it since they had it behind other titles. Maybe I can still get it next week, fingers crossed !

Sounds like an extra - sized issue of STARBURST, another title which is hard to find here in Dublin. My local newsagents always gets it but recently, he has dropped other genre mags such as SCI-FI NOW and SFX, hope he keeps getting SB.

SLOW ROBOT

Welcome to STARLOGGED!
It's a repository, and celebration, of Geek Media (mostly print) from the 'Star Age': that pre-millennial period between, roughly, 1972 (the opening of Marvel UK) and 1999 (the release of The Phantom Menace... and the end of innocence). But, of course, we'll bend the rules when we want to.
I only reproduce long out-of-print items for historical reference. I don't include anything that's currently in-print, is likely to be reprinted or otherwise commercially exploited by the copyright holder.
Comments and contributions are most welcome.